'Empire and Nation' is a collection of writings of Partha
Chatterjee, a professor of Political Science and Anthropology. In his
essays, he explores India from political, cultural and historical
perspectives. Indian nationalism and identity is one of the main ideas
of the book. The superiority of Indian culture and thoughts is put forth
and western philosophies and thoughts are downplayed with reason.

The book sets the stage for examining the evolution of Indian
culture with a discourse on Indian Mythologies and then moves on to the
many aliens, especially the Muslims and the East India Company, who
ruled India at different times in history. The influence of Muslims on
Indian culture is discussed at length, right from the times of
Muhammad-Bin-Qasim to Mughal emperors. Different omens prevalent in
ancient India have been discussed with examples like Mahabharata and the
wars of Indian gods. The book then describes how the alien traditions,
and religions foreign to India, mingled with the Indian culture and
religions to influence the Indian culture.

Besides the introduction written by Nivedita Menon, the book is
organised into three parts. The Part I; 'Empire and Nation'
provides an interesting history of Indian nationalism going back to
Indian mythologies, gods and goddesses. The Part II:
'Democracy', explores the democratic movements in India and
talks of all major players in the Indian democracy. In 'Capital and
Community', the final part of the book, diverse issues like civil
society, Capital and the Problems of Bengal have been discussed in this
part of the book.

Chatterjee, has tackled controversial issues like modernity,
nationalism, democracy, the role of women and minorities with sagacity
and the writings have been enriched with lively criticism of the western
thought on the subjects. Most of his arguments are grounded in history.
Different political thoughts and philosophies have also been discussed,
with their pros and cons to the Indian context. To conclude the book
discusses various theories of society and culture and examines how these
theories fit in the Indian context.

The book is useful for those who want to study infant democracies,
especially democracies that have to cope with ethnic, religious and
cultural diversity.